


Agapetos, Beloved

by roses_bees_deer



Category: The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 17:06:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4108468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roses_bees_deer/pseuds/roses_bees_deer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It would not be Elysium if they were without the other. Patroclus and Achilles are reunited millennia after their deaths. As teenagers in a far more peaceful era, they are able to enjoy their love without tragedy. Or will they? Even the Fates' best laid plans hit snags, and the twenty-first century is a pretty big one. Told with interludes from their pasts, the young men find each other and themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

c. 1218 BCE 

_What did I want?_

_It wasn’t a question anyone ever really asked me, and I came to not expect anyone to care what I wanted._

_Except Achilles. But, he didn’t need to ask. He knew. Even if he didn’t act on it or do anything about it, he knew what I wanted. And it was him. By the time I even considered what I wanted for myself, I already had it._

_I wanted to be loved. My mother never could have given me that, as much as she would have wanted to. She was the way she was. She was simple. Raising a son wasn’t something she could do. Father always resented me, of course. That’s news to no one. It was a relief when he finally had an excuse to send me away. Peleus collected me as he did all the others._

_Chiron, perhaps. Chiron I believe came to love me as a son. I like to think so. Chiron was more my father than any other man in my youth._

_But it was Achilles who gave me what I wanted. Achilles, who showed me that I had worth. Achilles, who saw me as more than a disgrace, a shame. Achilles, beautiful, beautiful Achilles who saw me as his equal._

_The best of the Achaeans.   And he made me equal to him._

_How could I not love him? I was the same as anyone one, entranced by his glow. His godliness shone out of him in every action, every word. Yes, I was hardly the only one to love him, but I was the one he loved in return._

_His parents he respected as anyone with his goodness would. He trusted them both, even though they were eternally at odds with each other. Eternal, what a word. Chiron was father to us both, and earned the same respect, perhaps more._

_He loves me, I know. No one can take that away from me. Not his son, not his mother. No one. His love is mine and I will hold on to it eternally._

_I could not be at peace until we were reunited. All I want_

_Is him._

_Elysium would not be paradise if I could not be with him. It would be nothing but pain. I would rather hover as a shade than be separated from him._

_We were reunited. And we have reached Elysium. Together._


	2. Meeting your other half

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patroclus is just trying to get through high school with his ridiculous name and nerd of a father. But when Achilles, the one whose most loyal companion and lover he is supposed to be, suddenly shows up at his school, the coincidence is just too much for him to bear. But damn, if anyone is a Greek Hero, it is Achilles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope I didn't get your hopes up with the first chapter. It's another teenager AU. So original, I know. I'm adding interludes of more Ancient Greek-esque things to fill the story out a little more. Enjoy!

My dad is a nerd. A huge nerd. The nerdiest of nerds. Who else has a dad with a master’s degree in classical languages and mythology? Who names their son Patroclus?

It’s like he hates me. Of course, dad, name me after the guy who kills a dude, gets out casted by his father, and ends up dead. Thanks. And I don’t even get a keychain with my name on it as an apology.

Not even a middle name, either. First name Patroclus, last name Agapetos. I get it dad: you love me. I still want a keychain.

“If you can be half of the friend that Patroclus was to Achilles, I would be unmeasurably proud of you.” What if I don’t want to be the sidekick, dad? What then? I still end up dead!

I had this internal conversation at the start of every school year. Every year when teachers went through their class lists and stumbled over my name.

“Just Pat is fine.”  Just Pat. Patroclus Agapetos.

My internal strife continued with attendance being called. Fuck those people with names on their keychains.

“Michael Nash?” “Here”

And coffee cups.

“Emily White?” “Here”

And stickers.

 “Achilles Peterson?”

And – Wait, what?

 “Here,” said a blonde in the back row.

“Oh my god.”

I’m still not sure if I said that or if someone else did. Probably both.

Achilles – how fitting of a name for the guy, though – _winked_ at me. The giggles around me made me want to die.

“Did you see how he winked at me?” A girl next to me said. An Emily. Why the hell would Achilles wink at her.

Fuck it.

I guess I’m a nerd too because the next thing I did was text my dad. Dad technically is a professor at a local university, but his classical studies classes are only a few days of the week for a few hours so most of the time he’s at home with his true love, his translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey. He’s been working on it since before I was born and one can guess where he was when I came into the world.

What are the odds of Patroclus and Achilles ending up in the same class? I wondered how many people got the reference. Obviously a few did. Bree got it and hadn’t stopped drilling holes into the side of my head yet. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep whatever cool I possessed if I looked at her. I wanted to turn around to look at Achilles again. Wanted to demand how he got such a normal last name. I bet people could always pronounce his name.

And, of course, I bet people liked him. How couldn’t they? He was absolutely gorgeous.

Being raised by my father, I knew far too much about the story of my namesake, so _I knew_ how much Achilles looked like the real – or the legendary – Achilles. The boy could have just walked in off the fields of Phthia after winning a battle.

I quickly had to stop thinking about the gorgeous boy or Bree would know. She always knew what I was thinking and it would have been a little _too_ obvious if I continued thinking about Achilles covered in sweat and oil under the blazing hot sun –

No. Not in class. Not with Bree still fucking staring at me.

The class seemed to drag on for eternity but I still have no idea what I learned. Achilles was lost in the sea of girls swarming around him to introduce themselves after the bell so I didn’t even get to see him. I had to tug Bree out of the classroom before she joined the other girls.

“No need to manhandle me!” Bree teased, shoving my shoulder hard enough to make me lose balance. I sighed and fixed my backpack over my shoulder and looked down at her as we talked side by side down the hallway.

“So… Achilles, _Patroclus_? What do you think?” she smirked.

I raised an eyebrow, trying to appear nonchalant, knowing already that it was futile.

“Don’t give me that.”

I sighed as dramatically as was appropriate for the situation. “What do you want from me?”

“I want you to give me your opinion on the gorgeous boy who you are destined to fall in love with!”

“There’s no definitive proof that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers,” I said.

“You’re dad thinks they were.”

“If you haven’t noticed, my dad is a bit of a romantic.”

“And what are you? I’ve read your poetry. I’ve brought you ice cream and Pride and Prejudice last Valentine’s Day after David broke up with you.”

“That’s different,” I said, stopping in front of my locker. I pulled the crumpled up bit of paper with my combination on it.

“So you wouldn’t mind if say… Dayna Middleton were to show him around the school?”   

“Why?” I said sharply, freezing as I was putting my statistics book into my locker. Bree pointed and I turned to see Achilles and Dayna laughing outside of the music room. Something inside of me broke a little. They looked good together. Both blonde and gorgeous and suitably popular.

“It’s fine,” I said, unable or unwilling to hide my sullen mood.

“Yeah, totally,” Bree said.

“Are you coming over for dinner tonight?” I asked, wanting to change the topic from Achilles to anything, anything else.

“Am I invited?” Bree smiled.

“You’re at my house more than I am. Am I invited?”

“Of course! Dad is making his mac and cheese tonight.”

“So that’s why he didn’t text back…” I checked my phone. Nothing still.

The bell rang and Bree ran away before I could catch up with her. I let myself get pushed through the crowd of over-warm teenagers in the late August heat, letting myself wallow just a little bit.

I suddenly found myself falling backwards which, sadly, wasn’t too rare of an occurrence. Owen, whose overlarge shoulder had met mine many a time in these high school hallways, followed through with his shove and I knew it was too late to save myself.  

But before I hit the floor, someone grabbed me and kept me vertical.

I turned around with my heart in my throat – my life still flashing before my eyes from that obviously near death experience – and met the back of a head.

A blonde head. A tall blonde head.

“Watch where you’re going,” the blonde head shouted after Owen’s disappearing back.

Achilles turned around and smiled.

“Are you alright?”

With my heart and my breakfast threatening to make an appearance on the floor, I smiled a grimace that must not have been too terrible because Achilles didn’t bolt.

“Yeah. Thanks…”

“Achilles,” he introduced himself.

“Patroclus,” I said, slightly breathless and hating myself for the clichés.

“I know,” he smiled.

I thought I was dead.  

* * *

My main [tumblr ](http://jumperswatson.tumblr.com)and my [tsoa blog](http://patroclued.tumblr.com)! 

 


	3. Interlude - Sing, Godesses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sing, goddesses, of Achilles' black pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of gave up on the dactylic hexameter two lines in... sorry...

_Sing, Goddess, Achilles’ black pain_

_Rage that bore blood red and death sweet,_

_Love that was underestimated and scorned_

_You shall not deny his love_

_For his pain shall become your own._

_Wrath of Achilles is not folly of mortal souls._

_Lion-hearted Achilles knows no mercy_

_His pain, black as night and ash_

_Shall stoke the fire of your demise._

_Sing, Pantheon, of Achilles passions._

_Swift-footed Achilles will be upon anyone_

_Who refuses his piercing gaze._

_Look upon his eyes, green as fields of Greece_

_And you shall see, deep as the Aegean_

_The pain he feels for his love was taken._

_Communion of Achilles with his lion heart_

_Benefit man, and god, and child._

* * *

[Main Blog](http://jumperswatson.tumblr.com) and [TSOA Blog](http://patroclued.tumblr.com)

 


End file.
